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Charles Darwin/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Tim and Moby are shown feeding pigeons some birdseed. MOBY: Beep. Tim is heard reading from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Who was Charles Darwin? Yours very sincerely, Helen. Charles Darwin was a British naturalist who developed the modern theory of evolution in the 19th century. An animation shows a drawing of Charles Darwin. TIM: After early training in medicine and theology, Darwin studied nature, learning about anatomy, geology, and classification. An image shows a medical caduceus, a holy cross, a human skull, a fossil of a leaf, and a box containing four different butterflies. TIM: All that study paid off when he signed on for a job on the HMS Beagle. An image shows a large ship. TIM: The Beagle sailed to South America in 1831 to map the continent’s coast line. The voyage lasted five years, during which Darwin collected and studied hundreds of species of plants and animals. An animation shows a map of the world. On the map, a red dotted line is being drawn from Britain around South America, beneath Australia and Africa back to Britain. TIM: His most famous work was done in the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador. The screen zooms into a section of the map labeled “Galapagos Islands.” TIM: Darwin was interested in why mockingbirds were different from island to island. One by one, four circles appear over the section of map. Each circle contains a drawing of the head of a mockingbird. Each mockingbird has a different beak. TIM: Each bird had a beak that was well-suited for the type of food available on its home island. Later, he found that tortoises and finches differed among the islands, too. An image shows a group of circles. Each circle contains a drawing of the head of a finch. Each finch has a different beak. TIM: Darwin came to believe that all the finch species must have evolved, or changed over time, from a common ancestor. An animation shows each circle being connected by dotted lines. Each dotted line leads to one large circle. This circle contains the drawing of a finch’s head. TIM: He thought that these changes would require a very long time to happen. An animation shows the silhouette of a primate. From this silhouette, two silhouettes slowly appear. One becomes a human-like being while the other resembles an ape. MOBY: Beep? TIM: No, he wasn’t the first scientist to think that life forms change from generation to generation. Before he formed his own ideas, Darwin agreed with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of evolution. An image shows a drawing of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. TIM: Now according to Lamarck, animals that use a certain body part a lot will develop great strength or size in that part. An animation shows a giraffe with a short neck. The giraffe’s neck begins to grow in-order for the giraffe to reach the leaves on a tree. Chewing is heard. TIM: He believed that these changes would then be passed onto the next generation. An image shows three circles. Each circle contains the drawing of the head and neck of a giraffe. The giraffe in the first circle has a long neck. The giraffe in the second circle has a short neck. The giraffe in the third circle has a medium neck. The first two circles are connected by a dotted line. A dotted line connects the third circle to the first dotted line. TIM: Darwin didn’t quite see it like that. An image shows a drawing of Charles Darwin looking at a giraffe. TIM: He believed animals couldn’t pass on traits they developed during their own lifetimes. An upper "X" is drawn over the three circles containing a drawing of the head and neck of a giraffe. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Uh. Well … well, think of it this way: if two, say, bodybuilders have a baby, it won’t be born any more muscular than average. An image shows the drawing of a very muscular man and a very muscular woman. The woman is holding a very small, skinny baby. TIM: According to Darwin, animals have to struggle for resources, like food and land. An image shows two woodpeckers. One woodpecker has a very long beak while the other’s beak is very short. TIM: Their ultimate goal is to live long enough to reproduce. An animation shows three circles. Each circle contains the drawing of a woodpecker. A dotted line is being drawn to connect the first two circles. A dotted line is being drawn to connect the third circle to the first dotted line. TIM: Animals born with advantageous traits are just likelier to live long enough to reach that goal. Those traits will then be passed onto their offspring. Animals with disadvantageous traits are less likely to survive and have kids. An animation shows two woodpeckers pecking a tree trunk. A worm is at the center of the trunk. The woodpecker with the longer beak is able to reach the worm. This woodpecker brings the worm to its babies. A thud is heard. The woodpecker with the shorter beak is unable to reach the worm. This woodpecker falls and lands on its back. Black Upper Xs cover its eyes. TIM: So those traits are less likely to get passed on. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, it’s … it's not a very nice system. Darwin called the process natural selection. The screen is divided into two equal sections. In one section, the woodpecker on the ground is shown. In the other section, the woodpecker feeding its babies is shown. TIM: He said that tiny changes, accumulating over hundreds of thousands of years, would lead to the kinds of variations he observed in the Galapagos mockingbirds. An image shows a map of the Galapagos Islands. Four circles are over the map. Each circle contains a drawing of the head of a mockingbird. Each mockingbird has a different beak. TIM: In 1859, Darwin published his findings in a book: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. An image shows the cover of the book, The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin. TIM: Many people opposed the theory of evolution because it seemed to conflict with their religious beliefs. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Oh! No, Darwin never said that humans came from monkeys; He said that people and primates both evolved from a common ancestor. The screen is divided into two sections. In the smaller section, a circle containing the silhouette of an ape and a circle containing the silhouette of a human are shown. The circles are connected by a dotted line. A large red Upper X is drawn over this section. In the larger section, three circles are shown. The circle at the top of the screen contains a question mark. There are two circles below, one containing the silhouette of a human and the other containing the silhouette of an ape. A dotted line connects each of these circles to the circle at the top of the screen. TIM: Darwin continued to write and speak about evolution until his death in 1882. An image shows a drawing of Charles Darwin. TIM: He published several more editions of The Origin of Species that expanded on his original theory. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, it’s called the “theory” of evolution, but a scientific theory isn’t just a guess. In science, a theory is an idea that’s supported by repeated experimentation and hard evidence. An image shows three scientists. TIM: Most scientists today accept an updated version of Darwin’s evolutionary theory that includes what we now know about genetics and heredity. Repeated beeping is heard. Doors open on Moby’s stomach revealing a robotic bird. Rocket thrusters are heard. Two rocket thrusters on the bird’s back turn on. The bird flies off screen. He hovers above a group of pigeons. The bird begins to peck at the birdseed at a very rapid pace. Beeping is heard. TIM: Wow, that thing's pretty successful. MOBY: Beep! TIM: I fear you have created a monster. The robot bird flies away. Lightning strikes and thunder is heard. 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